6 picked from Grace

How exciting it is for 6 of our teenagers from Grace Church to be selected to be part of this summer’s Operation Barnabas team. These young people include Adriane Crouse, Joy Distler, Cory Getz, Zach Hartmann, Jordan Vance and Andrew Wingert. A young person is chosen for Operation Barnabas primarily on character and attitude, not talent. Each applicant has been highly recommended by our church to participate in this life-changing experience

Operation Barnabas teams are developed to give growing Christian senior high youth such a thirst for ministry, that upon their return, they will have a greater desire to serve Christ in their lives and in their local church. You might remember that we as a church hosted Operation Barnabas orientation last summer. This summer will be the 33rd year for Operation Barnabas which is sponsored by CE National. They have traveled throughout the entire United States as well as the Philippines and Brazil. This summer the domestic teams will be traveling on the West Coast, including Mexico.

The name “Barnabas” means “encouragement” and that will be their goal this summer. These 6 teens will be part of a team of 33 teenagers and six adults traveling to churches to do evangelism, manual labor, singing, children’s ministries, puppets, sign language, drama and many other things. This summer will be one of great spiritual challenge in which they will get first-hand experience in ministry and in leadership training.

Would you begin now to be praying for these teenagers as they prepare for this summer and also as they experience this ministry first-hand? Here are some specific things that you can pray for each of them regarding:

• Safety for traveling while on this trip
• Wisdom in making decisions that will effect this upcoming ministry experience
• An open heart and mind to what God will teach them
• That God would provide the entire sum of money that is required for this trip
• That they will have opportunities that will stretch them out of their comfort zone
• An optimistic attitude and willingness to be flexible in whatever ways are needed
• A fun and enjoyable summer with endless possibilities

Each team member is responsible to raise their own support for their training, food, and transportation as well as for equipment and other related expenses. The finances due to CE National are $2,380 per teenager (a total of $14,280 for the group of 6 teens). Would you also pray about the part that you might be able to play financially to help our six teenagers accomplish this goal? If you might be able to help financially, please send donations directly to CE National (PO Box 365, Winona Lake, IN 46590). When you do send a gift to help, please be sure to designate the name(s) of the teens that the gift is to be applied toward. Please also understand that these donations are not tax deductible. Thank you for investing in the lives of our teenagers!